Ebola victims are most contagious when they are no longer alive, and in West Africa — where burial rituals, for both Christians and Muslims, entail anointing the deceased — many people have contracted the virus from a corpse.
It's most contagious when there's an open, seeping sore, though it can be spread without any symptoms.
Ebola is most contagious when an infected individual has gone past the early symptoms of headache, fever and upset stomach and is emitting vomit, diarrhea and especially blood.
A person is most contagious when the symptoms are clearly visible.
A person with smallpox is sometimes contagious with the onset of fever, but the person is most contagious when the rash appears.
Colds are most contagious at the onset, when you first start to notice that hint of a sore throat, says Collins, making it important to stay home early on.
But public health sleuths are still scrambling to figure out some essential facts about the virus: how it spreads from person to person, who is most (and least) vulnerable, when a victim is most contagious, and how long the virus incubates before making its victims noticeably ill.
Whooping cough is most contagious before the coughing begins.
It also means that you are most likely contagious.
And compassion can be contagious when openly espoused.
